I'm about ready to buy a DVD +/- R/RW drive. I've decided on an external model, so I can use it in several PC's (have 6 at home). Main use will be backup of my FLAC and AAC music collection, not really for "video" use, as 3 of my PC's already have DVD-ROM drives including my home theater PC. USB 2.0 is interface of choice, although 2 of my PC's do have Firewire.

I'm seriously considering the Plextor PX-708UF (external version of PX-708A), though the price here in Finland is a bit high. I have used several Plextor's, and continue to use my PX-W2410A burner, they have all been top notch drives.

I have a good experience with a Sony DRX-500ULX drive (Firewire/USB2.0 external) at work, and it's been a good drive also, though it's only a 4x/2.4x writer compared to the faster Plextor (the Sony's about 10 months old). Actually, last time I researched DVD burners, I bought the Sony. I haven't really kept up lately with the best drives, and Plextor hadn't even released their first DVD burner (in Finland) when I bought the Sony.

I'd like opinions on the Plextor, especially from anyone that owns the drive, even the internal model 708A.

I've had no problems with the Sony, but the newest Sony's that are comparable to the Plextor are actually mroe expensive here.

Have you considered the possiblity to buy an external Firewire/USB 2.0 enclosure and mount the drive of your choice inside it? I made it several times for me and my friends. It is not at all so difficult: just 4 screws and 2 connectors.

Doing that you'll have the flexibility to upgrade to a new drive at your wish and at a lesser price and move the old one to another PC or just sell it.


Sergio

The PX-708A is, when summing up all of it's capabilities, the best allrounder out there.

There are drives that are faster in DVD writing like the Pioneer 07 and the NEC2500A (both do 8x -R) but in terms of DVD media compatibility, the Plextor really shines and can write +R faster than any other drive IIRC.

As a CD(RW) drive, you can benefit from Plextools for DAE, overreading Lead-In/-Out with EAC and good compatibility with CD audio copy protections, too.

The time I decided to buy a DVD/RW drive, the Plextor was far too expensive for me (way beyond 270€) so I went for a LiteOn 411S which I now regret - in fact, I have spent more than the actual price difference for non-matching media producing coaster over coaster so I should have got my hands on the Plex instead.

don't foget the new PX-712

Not even on my radar... the 708 external is almost €400 here in Finland (that's close to $500 at current exchange rate). The 712 isn't yet available and I don't even want to think about the price considering what the "slower" 708 sells for. Besides, speed isn't the most important thing, 8x +R writing is plenty fast enough for my needs, and the rewrite speed is the same as 708. I use a lot of +RW discs, so the 712 is no improvement.

To be honest, no. Reason is compatibility, some drives will work fine in a "generic" external enclosure, some won't. It's trial and error if it works or not and I'm not taking that kind of chance. You're also not assured of future compatibility, if the USB chip in the enclosure is a poor design, or company goes out of business, then you're screwed. There are also potential compatibility problems with burning software recognizing the drive properly. If I buy a Plextor (or Sony, or Pioneer), I can be relatively safe that ANY burning software I use or will use in the future will work.

Believe me, I have lots of experience with burners, all the way back to 1995 and 1x SCSI writers. And no, I'm not scared of a few screws and couple connectors, I have a degree in electronic engineering.

I have done a lot of "transplanting" drives by taking them out of an enclosure and installing them as an internal drive. I've done that many times with both IDE and SCSI MO, DVD-RAM and other drives.

Hi! My name is Welly Wu and I have the Plextor PX-708UF (silver color). It is my first DVD burner and it is superb. They just updated the firmware to 1.06 on the Plextor website. I use it in conjunction with Dantz Retrospect Professional 6.5.x to back up my laptop HDD and it is speedy and utterly reliable on Memorex DVD+RW (4X speed) media. I would recommend the PX-708UF because it is plug 'n play as advertised, firmware upgradeable, and transportable from computer to computer. It comes with both a IEEE1394 cable and USB2 cable along with a brief color instruction manual complete with pictures. Yeah, it is quite superb.

But, I would not recommend it to you. Wait until the second quarter of 2004 for Double Layer DVD + / - R/RW drives become available. Let me tell you a little secret I know about Plextor: I contacted a friend who works for the company inside their computer technical support division and he told me his friends inside the company are producing both an internal / external Double Layer (9.4GB native -> 8.5GB available space) DVD + / - R/RW & CD-RW drive by the end of the second quarter that can do 16X DVD + / - R/RW burning speeds (approximately 5 minutes for a Double Layer disc or 8.5GB written data space) and a 52X32X40X CD-RW drive to boot! Prices for the external start at ~ $340 USD. That's what I might consider working hard and saving my pennies for. I'll give my "older" Plextor DVD burner to my brother who downloads like a madman!

I hope this is helpful information for you.

Interesting rumor if it's true. Hmm... maybe I should go for a much cheaper internal drive and wait until this drive becomes available. I could then move the internal to one of my other machines... damn, have to think about this.

I really doubt you'll have any compatibility issues.

The problem is that there are certain ATA commands that are only used by CD-RW/DVD-RW burners, and many of the USB->ATA bridge chips do not support these commands. That means the burner functions are not passed through to the drive. Essentially, many of these chips were made for ATA hard drive applications, which do not support or need these commands. Some chips do work and will pass all the ATA commands, but reliable information is not easy to come by regarding which bridge chip is actually used in a given product. Like I said, trial and error.

CBOPE:

Please do not mistake the fact that SONY and Pioneer are indeed developing Double Layer capable DVD dual format burner drives for the second - third quarter of 2004. The same is true of Plextor. Please do not make the same mistake I did: do not buy a single layer DVD burner. They will become obsolete and regarded as old technology by the end of this fiscal year. Just be patient and wait for Plextor's answer to other competitors' versions of Double Layer capable DVD multi-format burners.

dual layer will face severe compatibility and media quality issues at it's start just like we face today with dvd+/-r/w media ... so buying a single layer dvd burner will not be that much of a misinvestment as often being claimed imo

Valid point. Except for the capacity per disc, I don't see any advantages to dual-layer. So, I need 2x the discs if I buy now versus waiting for a dual-layer drive. I'm sure the dual-layer discs will be oh-so-cheap when they become available